What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I just returned from a whirlwind vacation: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Phoenix and Sedona all in under two weeks. Admidst all the to & fro, I did manage to secure at least a couple of days comprised of nothing but TV watching. I am now officially obsessed with HGTV's Property Virgins and My First Place. I didn't do a very good job of photographically documenting my time, but a few highlights (I'm sure I've forgotten plenty) include:

- Korean foot massages with Meredith and my mom. Don't let the name fool you, they massage way more than your feet. Their techniques include pressing pressure points incredibly hard, rotating bones in the sockets, and scratching the tips of toes with their finger nails. Fantastic.

- Watching Meredith present at Visible Evidence XVI, held at USC's very fancy, brand new George Lucas and Steven Spielberg McMansion buildings.

- Getting to see Nat's new bachelor pad in Koreatown.

- Eating bimbimbob with Hye-Jean in Koreatown (do you see a theme here?)

- Meeting baby Theo, who squawked a bit and then promptly took a nap in my arms. He made me ponder the question: do babies dream?

- Dinner at Garland's with my dad and Laura. Such a magical place-- an old wooden lodge adorned with Navajo rugs and deer heads. Cocktails are served to you on picnic benches outside while you wait for the dinner bell to ring. Dinner involves things like crab apples and honey bourbon BBQ sauce. You have to drive over a little stream to get there.

And now, the one and only event that got properly documented, walking along Oak Creek with the pack. It was great to see Sprout getting in touch with her desert-self.


She got a cactus spine in her paw but didn't even whimper. Her white hair was stained with red dust for a days.